The European Union's 27 governments agreed Tuesday to guarantee private savings of up to euro50,000 for one year and set guidelines on how each country could rescue failing bank, finally taking a measure of coordinated action against the financial crisis after days of wrangling.

The European Union's 27 governments agreed Tuesday to guarantee private savings of up to euro50,000 for one year and set guidelines on how each country could rescue failing bank, finally taking a measure of coordinated action against the financial crisis after days of wrangling.

Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC plunged 39 percent in early trading on Tuesday, as investors worried the British government is not doing enough to boost banks' balance sheets in the financial crisis.

An emergency meeting of European Union finance ministers debated raising guarantees for private savings across the 27-nation bloc on Tuesday in an attempt at a coordinated response to the global financial crisis.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talked by phone with Citigroup's Robert Rubin and consulted with a host of bigtime financial players amid the worsening credit crunch that pushed Wall Street into a nosedive.

He wasn't in a boiler room Aug. 8 but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke certainly was feeling the heat when he talked by phone with Citigroup chairman Robert Rubin and consulted with a host of bigtime financial players amid a worsening credit crunch that pushed Wall Street into a nosedive.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talked to Citigroup chairman Robert Rubin and other big financial players when a credit crunch took a turn for the worse in August and sent stocks on Wall Street careening wildly.

The last time the British pound was worth more than $2, the elder George Bush was waging a losing U.S. presidential campaign against Bill Clinton and the Eurotunnel linking Britain to Europe was still under construction.

The British pound rose above worth $2 Tuesday, the first time in 15 years, after figures showing an unexpected surge in British inflation led economists to conclude that multiple interest rate increases were all but a given.